Post by bennyp81 on Jun 15, 2005 14:05:23 GMT -8
Bart Reed
User ID: 1606604 Dec 15th 10:40 PM
Oakland Tribune: Sunday, December 14, 2003
Deep cuts due for AC bus routes; On Dec. 21, the district will change 102 routes, with 43 lines
eliminated; waiting times will be 30 minutes
By Sean Holstege
Thousands of East Bay bus riders will have fewer choices and longer waits after Dec. 21, when AC Transit makes its deepest service cuts in its history.
The bus district will make sweeping changes to 102 routes, with 43 lines being eliminated -- half to be replaced with existing or rerouted lines. About 60 routes will be reconfigured.
AC Transit is changing the schedules for about 100 routes, spokesman Mike Mills said. He said the frequency of buses on surviving routes will not be dramatically reduced, nor will most buses stop running much earlier in the evenings. Still, passengers on several lines will see buses every half-hour, instead of every 15 or 20 minutes.
Bus riders are certain to face confusing disrupt-ion in their lives. They can find out about the fate of their lines and their new travel options by getting pamphlets detailing the service changes and new timetables from racks near the front door of their bus.
The changes represent a 9 percent reduction in the level of bus service in the district that stretches from San Pablo to Fremont and also offers two dozen transbay routes.
That's the equivalent of 670 fewer hours of bus runs each day, enough to save AC Transit $16
million in operating costs. It could have been a lot worse.
AC Transit deferred another $5 million in cuts, salvaging half a dozen lines, at least until next summer. And last month AC Transit got a $20
million bailout loan from Alameda County's transportation Measure B funds to keep its finances in good stead until then.
Without the loan from the voter-approved sales tax, AC Transit would have had to double all of its service cuts this year, including those of last June.
As it is, AC Transit cut more service this year than any time in its history. That's because it faced the biggest deficit in its history -- a $50
million hole in its $250 million operating budget.
A voter-approved property tax, a series of financial gimmicks and a fare increase earlier this year were not enough to close the gap.
AC Transit planners estimated that 35,000 riders will have to find an alternate bus and about 5,000
will be left with no service at all come Dec. 21.
It's unclear how many people abandoned the bus system after the cuts and fare increases earlier this year, which came after a series of heavily attended and contentious public hearings.
Over the 12 months ending in June, average rider-ship had dipped below 210,000 a day, down from the recent norm of 225,000.
Planners said they targeted the bus lines that carry the fewest people but tried to ensure that no one would live more than half a mile from
any route. That's why 40 percent of the eliminated
bus hours serve the Fremont area, even though it accounts for one-quarter of the projected savings.
In the Fremont area, lines 219, 223, 231, 233,234,
253, 258 and 328 will be cut and merged with other
routes. In and around Oakland, lines 1, 2, 5, 17, 44, 47, 60, 315, 352 and 352 will be eliminated, while lines 3, 4, 49, 49M, 49X, 58, 58X, 63, 66, 89 and 90 will be cut and replaced.
In the Hayward area, line 90 will be replaced with an expanded line 84. In Contra Costa County, lines 68, 69, 75 and 78 will be fused into other
routes. Over the Bay, lines HX, K, KH, LB, LC, LD, OX1, WA and Y will be eliminated.
For a complete list of service and schedule changes or specific information about a route, call (510) 817-1717 or 5-1-1 or www.actransit.org
www.actransit.org/riderinfo/schedules/schedule_help.html
Contact Sean Holstege at sholstege@angnewspapers.com
Þ--Þ--Þ
Bart Reed
User ID: 1606604 Dec 17th 8:09 AM
Berkeley Daily Planet: Tuesday, December 16, 2003
AC Transit Announces Driver Layoffs, Route Cuts
By Matthew Artz
Cash-strapped AC Transit is set to implement its second major service cut of the year Monday, slashing service on six Berkeley routes and
laying off over 100 drivers and mechanics just four days before Christmas.
System-wide, 45 lines are slated for elimination with an additional 48 facing service alterations.
In all, nearly 10 percent of service will be discontinued -- paring $16 million from the transit agency's $50 million budget shortfall.
As in the first round of cuts this summer,
Berkeley emerges relatively unscathed. Most of the affected routes travel to San Francisco, with
Route HX discontinued and service on Routes E, G and H scaled back from every 20 minutes to every half hour.
Of the local lines, Route 17 -- which crossed Alcatraz Avenue on its way from Rockridge Bart to Emeryville -- will be discontinued, while Route 9
--which snakes around Berkeley from Ashby and Claremont Avenue to the Marina -- will scale back afternoon service to every half hour.
In June, Berkeley lost Route 8, which served the Hills, and suffered service cuts on Routes 65 and 52. In September, the transit agency raised prices for bus passes and stopped offering free rides to poor schoolchildren.
AC Transit Spokesperson Mike Mills blamed the budget shortfall on the sluggish economy and said that if revenue didn't pick up soon, further
service cuts could come as early as June.
Though Mills couldn't provide ridership statistics, Dean Metzger, chair of Berkeley's Transportation Commission, said Berkeley has the
highest percentage of riders in the system, which insulates the city from more severe cuts.
"[Service] has been pretty stable," he said. "I'm not hearing a lot of people complaining."
With UC Berkeley student activity fees paying for student bus passes, Berkeley offers the system a base of loyal riders and guaranteed income.
Metzger hopes to one day expand the bus pass system citywide by combining a parcel tax hike with business subsidies to offer any Berkeley resident unlimited free service on AC Transit.
He criticized AC Transit for failing to flex the necessary political muscle to win such concessions
as dedicated bus lanes that could improve service and draw more customers.
"If they were reliable and got fares down more people would ride it," he said.
To minimize layoffs, AC Transit is temporarily offering added early retirement incentives starting at age 53.
While it's too early gauge the success of the program, Christine Zook, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, said 112 of her members have received pink slips -- about five percent of union membership.
"Anytime you have 100 people getting laid off the week of Christmas, you can't be happy," she said.
Zook blamed the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for the service cuts arguing the regional transportation power broker favors
BART, which caters to a more affluent clientele.
Union activists protested outside MTC headquarters
Friday, demanding increased long-term funding for a project to provide service for low income neighborhoods bringing people to schools and jobs.
"AC Transit is a little fish," she said. "The MTC is making planning decisions 20 years out that disadvantage poor people."
Mills insisted AC Transit's future was not all gloom and doom. He touted the new rapid bus service along San Pablo Avenue and other
expansions better linking the system to BART.
"We're still building towards a bright future," he said. "This is just a bump in the road."
Þ--Þ--Þ
User ID: 1606604 Dec 15th 10:40 PM
Oakland Tribune: Sunday, December 14, 2003
Deep cuts due for AC bus routes; On Dec. 21, the district will change 102 routes, with 43 lines
eliminated; waiting times will be 30 minutes
By Sean Holstege
Thousands of East Bay bus riders will have fewer choices and longer waits after Dec. 21, when AC Transit makes its deepest service cuts in its history.
The bus district will make sweeping changes to 102 routes, with 43 lines being eliminated -- half to be replaced with existing or rerouted lines. About 60 routes will be reconfigured.
AC Transit is changing the schedules for about 100 routes, spokesman Mike Mills said. He said the frequency of buses on surviving routes will not be dramatically reduced, nor will most buses stop running much earlier in the evenings. Still, passengers on several lines will see buses every half-hour, instead of every 15 or 20 minutes.
Bus riders are certain to face confusing disrupt-ion in their lives. They can find out about the fate of their lines and their new travel options by getting pamphlets detailing the service changes and new timetables from racks near the front door of their bus.
The changes represent a 9 percent reduction in the level of bus service in the district that stretches from San Pablo to Fremont and also offers two dozen transbay routes.
That's the equivalent of 670 fewer hours of bus runs each day, enough to save AC Transit $16
million in operating costs. It could have been a lot worse.
AC Transit deferred another $5 million in cuts, salvaging half a dozen lines, at least until next summer. And last month AC Transit got a $20
million bailout loan from Alameda County's transportation Measure B funds to keep its finances in good stead until then.
Without the loan from the voter-approved sales tax, AC Transit would have had to double all of its service cuts this year, including those of last June.
As it is, AC Transit cut more service this year than any time in its history. That's because it faced the biggest deficit in its history -- a $50
million hole in its $250 million operating budget.
A voter-approved property tax, a series of financial gimmicks and a fare increase earlier this year were not enough to close the gap.
AC Transit planners estimated that 35,000 riders will have to find an alternate bus and about 5,000
will be left with no service at all come Dec. 21.
It's unclear how many people abandoned the bus system after the cuts and fare increases earlier this year, which came after a series of heavily attended and contentious public hearings.
Over the 12 months ending in June, average rider-ship had dipped below 210,000 a day, down from the recent norm of 225,000.
Planners said they targeted the bus lines that carry the fewest people but tried to ensure that no one would live more than half a mile from
any route. That's why 40 percent of the eliminated
bus hours serve the Fremont area, even though it accounts for one-quarter of the projected savings.
In the Fremont area, lines 219, 223, 231, 233,234,
253, 258 and 328 will be cut and merged with other
routes. In and around Oakland, lines 1, 2, 5, 17, 44, 47, 60, 315, 352 and 352 will be eliminated, while lines 3, 4, 49, 49M, 49X, 58, 58X, 63, 66, 89 and 90 will be cut and replaced.
In the Hayward area, line 90 will be replaced with an expanded line 84. In Contra Costa County, lines 68, 69, 75 and 78 will be fused into other
routes. Over the Bay, lines HX, K, KH, LB, LC, LD, OX1, WA and Y will be eliminated.
For a complete list of service and schedule changes or specific information about a route, call (510) 817-1717 or 5-1-1 or www.actransit.org
www.actransit.org/riderinfo/schedules/schedule_help.html
Contact Sean Holstege at sholstege@angnewspapers.com
Þ--Þ--Þ
Bart Reed
User ID: 1606604 Dec 17th 8:09 AM
Berkeley Daily Planet: Tuesday, December 16, 2003
AC Transit Announces Driver Layoffs, Route Cuts
By Matthew Artz
Cash-strapped AC Transit is set to implement its second major service cut of the year Monday, slashing service on six Berkeley routes and
laying off over 100 drivers and mechanics just four days before Christmas.
System-wide, 45 lines are slated for elimination with an additional 48 facing service alterations.
In all, nearly 10 percent of service will be discontinued -- paring $16 million from the transit agency's $50 million budget shortfall.
As in the first round of cuts this summer,
Berkeley emerges relatively unscathed. Most of the affected routes travel to San Francisco, with
Route HX discontinued and service on Routes E, G and H scaled back from every 20 minutes to every half hour.
Of the local lines, Route 17 -- which crossed Alcatraz Avenue on its way from Rockridge Bart to Emeryville -- will be discontinued, while Route 9
--which snakes around Berkeley from Ashby and Claremont Avenue to the Marina -- will scale back afternoon service to every half hour.
In June, Berkeley lost Route 8, which served the Hills, and suffered service cuts on Routes 65 and 52. In September, the transit agency raised prices for bus passes and stopped offering free rides to poor schoolchildren.
AC Transit Spokesperson Mike Mills blamed the budget shortfall on the sluggish economy and said that if revenue didn't pick up soon, further
service cuts could come as early as June.
Though Mills couldn't provide ridership statistics, Dean Metzger, chair of Berkeley's Transportation Commission, said Berkeley has the
highest percentage of riders in the system, which insulates the city from more severe cuts.
"[Service] has been pretty stable," he said. "I'm not hearing a lot of people complaining."
With UC Berkeley student activity fees paying for student bus passes, Berkeley offers the system a base of loyal riders and guaranteed income.
Metzger hopes to one day expand the bus pass system citywide by combining a parcel tax hike with business subsidies to offer any Berkeley resident unlimited free service on AC Transit.
He criticized AC Transit for failing to flex the necessary political muscle to win such concessions
as dedicated bus lanes that could improve service and draw more customers.
"If they were reliable and got fares down more people would ride it," he said.
To minimize layoffs, AC Transit is temporarily offering added early retirement incentives starting at age 53.
While it's too early gauge the success of the program, Christine Zook, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, said 112 of her members have received pink slips -- about five percent of union membership.
"Anytime you have 100 people getting laid off the week of Christmas, you can't be happy," she said.
Zook blamed the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for the service cuts arguing the regional transportation power broker favors
BART, which caters to a more affluent clientele.
Union activists protested outside MTC headquarters
Friday, demanding increased long-term funding for a project to provide service for low income neighborhoods bringing people to schools and jobs.
"AC Transit is a little fish," she said. "The MTC is making planning decisions 20 years out that disadvantage poor people."
Mills insisted AC Transit's future was not all gloom and doom. He touted the new rapid bus service along San Pablo Avenue and other
expansions better linking the system to BART.
"We're still building towards a bright future," he said. "This is just a bump in the road."
Þ--Þ--Þ